The other day, I let some avocado skins and pits simmer for a few hours on my stove.

Yesterday, I played with them. First, check out my awesome jar. I don’t usually buy jars without lids but this one was so large and impressive that it came home with me.
I knew I’d find a use for it.

I reheated the witch’s brew this morning and strained out the big pieces. It smelled of avocados.
I was really struck by how very red it was.
The light in my kitchen isn’t great so I guess you’ll have to take my word for it.

I decided to experiment on one thrifted cotton napkin and one flour sack dish towel.
I thought about using some resist techniques but the rubber bands weren’t right in front of me so I didn’t.
I will next time.

I used an old tee-shirt made into a rag to strain the little bits out.

That went well BUT

I knocked it over and spilled half the water – D’oh! I’m so glad I was working in the sink.

I still managed to christen my counter and back splash.

So only slightly daunted – I always expect some kind of mistake will be made at some point – I kept going.

They got very pink right away – this is right after I shoved them in there.

I left the jar out in front my house – keeping the rosemary company – to catch the afternoon sun.
I put a napkin over the top but it didn’t look nice so it’s not in the picture. I used that skewer to move the fabric around a couple time during the day, just to make sure it all got equal time in the dye bath. I left the jar out till the early evening cool down.

It was toasty warm when I brought it in.

It was hard to get a good shot of the flour sack towel when I took it out. It wasn’t this orange-y – that’s just a reflection of my orange kitchen walls and my bad lighting.

But this picture seems pretty accurate. It lost a ton of color when I rinsed it but it’s still a very pretty pale pink. I left the napkin in the jar. I’ll let it soak another 24 hours to see what happens. I used about 8 – 10 avocado skins and probably 4 – 5 pits. That’s more than most of the tutorials I looked at so I was expecting more color. Live and learn.
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